Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 November 1886 — The Goddess on the Dome. [ARTICLE]

The Goddess on the Dome.

attached to the Goddess of Liberty that stands silently on the dome of the Capitol at Washington. Had Congress decided to gild the Goddess it would perhaps have been found difficult to get any one to undertake the task. It is well known that when the dome was thoroughly painted several years ago, the painter who worked about the Goddess lost his reason declaring that she had life, and was possessed of the spirit of the Virgin. At a certain hour in the morning, very near the moment of sunrise, there is one point in the head-dress of the statue that reflects back the light, appearing as a star. It is only for a short time that it can be seen. Every morning this ensnared painter would kneel in front of the Capitol and worship the star-crowned Goddess as long as the star was visible. Others are said to have come Under the influence of this bronzed Goddess, and have imagined that she exercised some mysterious power over them. Aside from any ignorant superstition, the man must Lava considerable courage who clings to the feet of the Goddess. At all events the Goddess, or perhaps it is the great height, is apt t'o turn the head of a man who climbs up there. It is a very dangerous undertaking, and few men have the nerve to attempt it. But the dome has to be painted, and there are thirty painters constantly employed to climb all over the dome and the roof .of the building to renew the paint where it is cracked and to clean away the rest. Two or three of these men venture to kneel at the feet of the Goddess. Since she is not to be dressed in gold, they will not have to venture further than to her feet. To render this undertaking less dangerous they have bound strong, cables tight about her ankles, and they will probably climb up with safetv if she doesn’t get angry and cast off tlie cords. From these cables strong scaffolding is being fastened to the white piliars just beneath her feet, which it isjhe purpose to paint. The dome and all below the Goddess will be gone over here and there with the brush. — Exchange. A Torso lady was asked how she could possibly afford to take mnsic lessons. “Oh, I confine myself to the low notes.* =*= He who knows his own incapacity I knows something—few men know th»*